Fairies, blackberries and toadstools

For the last few days of the summer holidays I'm looking after 2 of my grandchildren. I try to make their time with me interesting, fun, enjoyable. Usually I try to make sure that my husband is available to help on some days, although he is not fully retired yet, so that is not always possible. We don't do big days out with them, the sort of thing that costs the earth, we might go to the seaside or visit some local attraction but nothing too expensive and most of the time it will be going for walks, doing things at home--craft work, gardening, shopping, going to the park. And really they seem to be quite happy with whatever we arrange for them.  They can be hard work, occasionally naughty, but it's mainly  just their high spirits which can be tiring for us.


One of my daughters bought me a book for my birthday called  'Toad Cottages and Shooting Stars' . It's a great book aimed at grandparents, with lots of activities and interesting things to do with your grandchildren. It is American so some of the things are not appropriate for us in Great Britain, but it's easy to adapt some of the activities.

Today my 7 year old granddaughter and I looked through this book and she wanted to make a fairy garden and house.  We went round the garden looking for things we could use like leaves, twigs, acorns, flowers and seed heads and some shells and pebbles from the house.

Her imagination ran wild, I just provided the basics for her as she made a garden in one  terracotta plant saucer and a house with a lounge, bathroom and bedroom in another.  We placed these in a little corner of the garden under a tree.  Meanwhile my 5 year old grandson who was not the least bit interested or perhaps did not have the imagination, was doing what he does best--running around the garden, digging and raking with his own garden tools and generally just enjoying himself in his own little world.

Not wanting him to feel left out, later on we sowed seeds in a tray with both children's names. I filled a seed tray with moist compost and levelled it off.  The children marked out their names in the compost with fingers or a twig, then we sprinkled seeds in the marked areas.  I used some mustard seeds or you could use grass seed.  This was then covered with more compost.  Hopefully the children will see their names appear as the seeds grow.

Later on we went out for a walk and picked blackberries, another simple activity, but one which they really enjoyed doing.  We even found a toadstool which they both thought might belong to the fairies.

Simple pleasures

Today was a good day, although I wasn't expecting it to be. It was the day of the teachers' strike and I had one grandchild at school and the other at home.

We did lots of things, I tried to make them enjoyable and educational. A bit of writing practice with stickers because he needs to improve his writing and I slipped in some reading too, because he needs to improve that too. He did really well and didn't complain.

Later we went for a walk and I tried to get him to remember all the things we'd seen, heard and smelt so he could tell mummy later.  Like the sound of the crickets in the grass and the butterfly which I couldn't identify, the smell of the blossom in the hedges and the newly cut grass of the nearby playing fields. Even the sight of a police car and later the sound of a siren, because he seemed to be obsessed with robbers today.  We had a chat with a lady who was sat on a bench and fortunately he commented on the fact that she had a funny voice when she was out of earshot!  Although I didn't think she had a funny voice.

He didn't complain when I suggested we did some gardening after lunch and was over the moon when I produced some new gardening gloves specially designed for little people. 
I deadheaded and he put stuff in the trug. We went round the garden looking for plants which were nice to touch or smell, like swishy grasses, soft fluffy flowers and scented herbs and lavenders.

I don't know if he will remember much of today, but I will, because it was a good day.